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The Beast
Not yet published
Expected 17 Feb 26She betrayed him. Now, he’s back to claim everything—including her.
Gabriel Grimm was supposed to be dead.
Once, he was the golden heir—untouchable, unstoppable—until a scandal shattered his world, leaving his name in ruins and his body in a shallow grave. But Gabriel didn’t die. He disappeared, forging himself into something harder, colder, unbreakable. And now, after years in the shadows, he’s ready to take back what was stolen.
Starting with her.
Isabella Hart was everything to him. His love. His salvation. And the woman who stood by while her father destroyed him. Now, she’s at the heart of the empire he’s about to dismantle. But taking down her father isn’t enough. Gabriel wants Bella, too. Ruined. Broken. His.
She swears she wasn’t part of the betrayal. That she fought for him. That the past isn’t what he believes.
But Gabriel stopped believing in love the day he died.
Now, he only believes in vengeance.
Yet every time he touches her, the past comes roaring back. The hunger. The need. The lie he tells himself—that breaking her will make him whole again.
But if he’s wrong, then claiming her won’t be his triumph… it will be his downfall. And her undoing.
The Beast is a vengeful, twisted, and all-consuming billionaire romance featuring a ruthless antihero risen from the dead, an intense enemies-to-lovers battle, a dangerous game of control, and a love that was never meant to survive. This book contains explicit content and is intended for mature readers only.
Gabriel Grimm was supposed to be dead.
Once, he was the golden heir—untouchable, unstoppable—until a scandal shattered his world, leaving his name in ruins and his body in a shallow grave. But Gabriel didn’t die. He disappeared, forging himself into something harder, colder, unbreakable. And now, after years in the shadows, he’s ready to take back what was stolen.
Starting with her.
Isabella Hart was everything to him. His love. His salvation. And the woman who stood by while her father destroyed him. Now, she’s at the heart of the empire he’s about to dismantle. But taking down her father isn’t enough. Gabriel wants Bella, too. Ruined. Broken. His.
She swears she wasn’t part of the betrayal. That she fought for him. That the past isn’t what he believes.
But Gabriel stopped believing in love the day he died.
Now, he only believes in vengeance.
Yet every time he touches her, the past comes roaring back. The hunger. The need. The lie he tells himself—that breaking her will make him whole again.
But if he’s wrong, then claiming her won’t be his triumph… it will be his downfall. And her undoing.
The Beast is a vengeful, twisted, and all-consuming billionaire romance featuring a ruthless antihero risen from the dead, an intense enemies-to-lovers battle, a dangerous game of control, and a love that was never meant to survive. This book contains explicit content and is intended for mature readers only.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 17, 2026
7 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
J. Kenner
188 books10.4k followersJ. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and #1 International bestselling author of over one hundred novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.
Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, and paranormal mommy lit.
JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.” A six time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award, JK took home the first RITA trophy awarded in the category of erotic romance in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me (book 2 of her Stark Trilogy) and in 2017 for Wicked Dirty in the same category. Her Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series (as Julie Kenner) is currently in development as a television show.
Her books have sold over three million copies and are published in over twenty languages.
In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, and paranormal mommy lit.
JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.” A six time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award, JK took home the first RITA trophy awarded in the category of erotic romance in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me (book 2 of her Stark Trilogy) and in 2017 for Wicked Dirty in the same category. Her Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series (as Julie Kenner) is currently in development as a television show.
Her books have sold over three million copies and are published in over twenty languages.
In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Book #3 in the Grimm brothers series.
Gabriel is back from the dead!
We start with Isabella in Atlantic City.
She's about to marry her best childhood friend because their parents want to merge their hotel and casino businesses.
Bella is doing it because it means to finally owning the hotel and the gallery inside it. The gallery she started with Gabe. It's filled with his art.
And suddenly he's back? She grieved for five years and has finally started a little something more with David and now Gabe's back? And he's mad at her?
Finally Gabriel's book and he's MAD! He thinks his beloved Bella wanted to kill him. He is so mad and hurt and crazy. He wants revenge. He wants to destroy the Hart hotel empire.
Bella is busy with her friends and Gabe's brothers finding out what happened five years ago. She wants her Gabe back - not this ... Beast!
I liked reading this! It was exciting, mysterious and sparky, sexy, adorable.
It was a bit repetitive here and there - a lot gets repeated, many sentences appear several times. And Bella got on my nerves a bit. She's mad because of all the wrong things and way too long!
But I liked this series - it was really interesting and sexy and so much more. Wouldn't mind seeing this whole world on TV one day!
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February 8, 2026
My least favorite book of this series. This is the Beauty and the Beast retelling. It deals with the oldest Grimm brother, Gabriel who supposedly died 5 years before in a cabin fire, but (surprise) is back and on a quest to avenge his attempted murder. He was set up and made to believe that the girl he loved back then, Bella Hart, planned and executed his murder, and the knowledge makes him beast-like in his coldness and firm resolve.
Meanwhile Bella, heiress to a billion dollar casino empire in Atlantic City, has been mourning her loss for five years. When she finds herself face to face with Gabriel she is ecstatic until she realizes that he believes she was responsible.
This one actually started strong and then fizzled out by midway. I liked the journey of overcoming trauma that Gabriel faces but just like the first two books it became repetitive and redundant and suffered from very poor writing, but I also found this one to be unrealistic which made it cheesey. I also have never ever in my life read about more patterns being lazily circled on people's naked bodies. Every single sex scene has at least 4 mentions of this in this one and the previous two. And I think I just got tired of the lazy writing. This one also suffered tremendously in terms of continuity of timelines and consistency of characters. For example, we are told that Bella is 28 and earlier mentions that Gabriel is two years older. Which simple math would say makes him 30. It is mentioned that Bella and Ruby (Leo's wife) went to school together and are the same age, but it is mentioned in book 2 that Leo is 2 years older than Ruby, making him also 30. There are also inconsistencies throughout the three books that I picked up on that ended up not making sense. These things seem trivial but really lessened my enjoyment. Like an editor is desperately needed here.
I also liked Bella the least of all the FMCs in these books. She was bland and predictable and didn't seem to have anything other than looks and kindness to attract Gabriel to her. Belle is one of my favorite heroines in the Grimm fairy tales because of her keen mind and love of books, and I'm a little disappointed that more dynamism wasn't written into Bella's character.
But this was still immensely readable and somewhat entertaining so I fell on 2.5 stars, but I'm kind glad I'm done with this series for awhile.
I received a copy of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Meanwhile Bella, heiress to a billion dollar casino empire in Atlantic City, has been mourning her loss for five years. When she finds herself face to face with Gabriel she is ecstatic until she realizes that he believes she was responsible.
This one actually started strong and then fizzled out by midway. I liked the journey of overcoming trauma that Gabriel faces but just like the first two books it became repetitive and redundant and suffered from very poor writing, but I also found this one to be unrealistic which made it cheesey. I also have never ever in my life read about more patterns being lazily circled on people's naked bodies. Every single sex scene has at least 4 mentions of this in this one and the previous two. And I think I just got tired of the lazy writing. This one also suffered tremendously in terms of continuity of timelines and consistency of characters. For example, we are told that Bella is 28 and earlier mentions that Gabriel is two years older. Which simple math would say makes him 30. It is mentioned that Bella and Ruby (Leo's wife) went to school together and are the same age, but it is mentioned in book 2 that Leo is 2 years older than Ruby, making him also 30. There are also inconsistencies throughout the three books that I picked up on that ended up not making sense. These things seem trivial but really lessened my enjoyment. Like an editor is desperately needed here.
I also liked Bella the least of all the FMCs in these books. She was bland and predictable and didn't seem to have anything other than looks and kindness to attract Gabriel to her. Belle is one of my favorite heroines in the Grimm fairy tales because of her keen mind and love of books, and I'm a little disappointed that more dynamism wasn't written into Bella's character.
But this was still immensely readable and somewhat entertaining so I fell on 2.5 stars, but I'm kind glad I'm done with this series for awhile.
I received a copy of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
It’s been a while since I have read a book from this author and I was a little bit unsure as this is part of a series so I didn’t know if I was going to be a bit lost reading this. I am happy to say that wasn’t the case, which let me enjoy this book a lot more.
The Beast is the story of Isabelle and Gabriel, who were very much in love until he dies. So the next five years, Isabelle is left to pick up the pieces of the life she wanted to build with Gabriel until she finds out Gabriel wasn’t dead. And he came back to see revenge against her father and her.
Without getting into details on the spoilers, I have to say I really enjoyed the story. It is a story if grief and pain and suffering and I could relate to both Gabriel and Isabell as both come to terms with everything that happened and all the unsaid things that have been left. I really liked the pace of the book and how the other characters completed the story. However, at some points I found it repetitive as the conflict seemed it has resolved in a chapter then appearing again in the next two. I still enjoyed the book and it was a quick read so I highly recommend it because I literally couldn’t put it down until I finished it.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
The Beast is the story of Isabelle and Gabriel, who were very much in love until he dies. So the next five years, Isabelle is left to pick up the pieces of the life she wanted to build with Gabriel until she finds out Gabriel wasn’t dead. And he came back to see revenge against her father and her.
Without getting into details on the spoilers, I have to say I really enjoyed the story. It is a story if grief and pain and suffering and I could relate to both Gabriel and Isabell as both come to terms with everything that happened and all the unsaid things that have been left. I really liked the pace of the book and how the other characters completed the story. However, at some points I found it repetitive as the conflict seemed it has resolved in a chapter then appearing again in the next two. I still enjoyed the book and it was a quick read so I highly recommend it because I literally couldn’t put it down until I finished it.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5⭐ I love this book! It’s a dark re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. Where promises are broken, dreams are stolen, the ones who are supposed to love you unconditionally don’t, ghosts come back to life, betrayal hurts more than the loss, trust is re-earned, and love will overcome all.
Bella is still grieving her loss, even after 5 long years of anguish, she’s trying to move on. On the verge of marrying her male best friend, she discovers that Gabe is alive. The love of her life. She’s dreamed of this reunion a thousand times over the past 5 years. But the reception she gets far less joyful than she’s been dreaming it might be. From the dark recesses of pain and feeling of betrayal, Bella clings to a sliver of hope that the Gabe she once knew is still inside the Beast she is facing. How will she coax him out? Can she convince him that she’s not the villain he believes her to be? Will she be able to cage the Beast?
“Many a man has a wild beast within him.”—The Brothers Grimm
Thank you J. Kenner, NetGalley and XpressoReads for this ARC. The above is my own and personal opinion.
Bella is still grieving her loss, even after 5 long years of anguish, she’s trying to move on. On the verge of marrying her male best friend, she discovers that Gabe is alive. The love of her life. She’s dreamed of this reunion a thousand times over the past 5 years. But the reception she gets far less joyful than she’s been dreaming it might be. From the dark recesses of pain and feeling of betrayal, Bella clings to a sliver of hope that the Gabe she once knew is still inside the Beast she is facing. How will she coax him out? Can she convince him that she’s not the villain he believes her to be? Will she be able to cage the Beast?
“Many a man has a wild beast within him.”—The Brothers Grimm
Thank you J. Kenner, NetGalley and XpressoReads for this ARC. The above is my own and personal opinion.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
🔥 The Beast by J. Kenner is a dark, intoxicating plunge into passion and power. From the first page, the tension between desire and danger grips you, pulling you into a world where control, temptation, and secrets collide. Kenner’s characters are magnetic—flawed, intense, and achingly human—making every choice and every betrayal feel electric.
The chemistry is scorching, the stakes are high, and the pacing keeps you turning pages well into the night. If you love romance with a seductive edge and a protagonist who refuses to be tamed, this book will devour you… in the best way.
💀 Dark, thrilling, and impossible to put down—Kenner proves once again why she’s a master of the intense romance genre.
The chemistry is scorching, the stakes are high, and the pacing keeps you turning pages well into the night. If you love romance with a seductive edge and a protagonist who refuses to be tamed, this book will devour you… in the best way.
💀 Dark, thrilling, and impossible to put down—Kenner proves once again why she’s a master of the intense romance genre.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Beast by J. Kenner published by Oliver Heber Books is the third book in the Billionaire Brothers Grimm. The previous books are The Tower and The Wolf.
For best reading experience I recommend to read the books in order.
Gabriel Grimm is supposed to be unalive. The former golden heir is now shunned, living in the shadows. And all his anger is directed to Isabella Hart, his true love whom he believes he betrayed him. She sewars she didn't do it, but Gabriel is driven to prove her wrong and get his revenge.
A dark read, an enemies-to-lovers second chances story that packs a punch. Twisty and with an anti-hero extraordinaire.
For best reading experience I recommend to read the books in order.
Gabriel Grimm is supposed to be unalive. The former golden heir is now shunned, living in the shadows. And all his anger is directed to Isabella Hart, his true love whom he believes he betrayed him. She sewars she didn't do it, but Gabriel is driven to prove her wrong and get his revenge.
A dark read, an enemies-to-lovers second chances story that packs a punch. Twisty and with an anti-hero extraordinaire.
Review of advance copy
From the passion of attraction to the heartache of romance, The Beast is an unpredictable thrill. Kenner dives heart first into a sultry, second chance drama that puts the senses on high alert and emotions on full blast. There's a twist around every corner. Isabella and Gabriel dare the soul to be vulnerable to the beautiful drama of love.
Review of advance copy received from Indie Reviewers
This is Gabriel's story. He thinks the women who he loves betrayed him 5 years ago so he's out for revenge. He comes back after 5 years and Bella is so happy. Except he's not happy to see her. He hates and loves her. He has been alive and living underground and running The Beast. I liked how we saw how he needed control but also let Bella have it too.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
There is a very fine line between love and hate, and for Gabriel who just happens to come back from the dead his hate is controlling his life. But in true J. Kenner fashion his love for Isabelle will turn his revenge into fighting for their future. A great addition tot he series.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A lot of stuff were repetititive, and I felt the MCs were going in a circle, full rtc.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
Review of advance copy received from Author
Final Score - 5 Stars!
Review to come as I’m still crying … I need time to process this.
OK. I'm back. And I have very not nice things to say! I'm kidding, but seriously? Gabriel?! GABRIEL?! G-A-B-R-I-E-L-?-! OMG, what he put poor Isabella through, I am not in a forgiving mood. He's lucky he pulled his head out from under where it was cause I was about to hurt him.
This book had me ALL over the place. Gabe is still in the doghouse with me, but at least he's finally seen the light.
This book, I could NOT put it down. From the fist page to the last, I read this book in under 12 hrs. I was an emotional basketcase - worse that our poor Izzy - but I survived. This book ... the best of the series, yet. Don't miss out on it!
Review to come as I’m still crying … I need time to process this.
OK. I'm back. And I have very not nice things to say! I'm kidding, but seriously? Gabriel?! GABRIEL?! G-A-B-R-I-E-L-?-! OMG, what he put poor Isabella through, I am not in a forgiving mood. He's lucky he pulled his head out from under where it was cause I was about to hurt him.
This book had me ALL over the place. Gabe is still in the doghouse with me, but at least he's finally seen the light.
This book, I could NOT put it down. From the fist page to the last, I read this book in under 12 hrs. I was an emotional basketcase - worse that our poor Izzy - but I survived. This book ... the best of the series, yet. Don't miss out on it!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews